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The long wait for Richard Ashcroft's next album - 13-11-2013

Another long wait for Richard's next album - surely it can't be very much longer! In the meantime fans might like to check out the debut album of Wilson Minds, I am We Are. Produced by Chris Potter (The Verve, Richard Ashcroft, The Rolling Stones, U2 ...) and with guest performances by Damon Minchella (who also worked with Richard on his forthcoming album) and Jeff Wootten (Gorillaz, Beady Eye), the album has some excellent tracks.

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Check out some tunes on their website »»
Read a review by a forum member »»

If you just happen to come across Bring back by Wilson Minds with its lush string sounds and overall feel - ever so slightly reminiscent of Ferry across the Mersey - on the radio somewhere, you could be forgiven for thinking that Wilson Minds are following in the grand old tradition of Gerry and the Pacemakers! Particularly when you consider all three members (singer/guitarist Paul Wilkes, James Brogan on bass and Carl Brightman on drums) hail from England's northwest.

Although there are a couple more ballads on their debut album I am we are, you would be much mistaken thinking they in any way hark back to the distant past. Instead, Dark Horses and Seen it all- the former yearning for a love lost with its tinkling guitars and a chorus which makes you want to sway and hold your lighter aloft, the latter a more desperate realization that the singer has "seen it all", underlined by some mournful piano - if anything would probably put the listener more in mind of Richard Ashcroft tunes, with their lovely full vocals and overall ambience. Small wonder perhaps if you consider this album was produced by Chris Potter of Verve and Blur fame, to name but a few.

Still, this is by no means a ballad album. Face it cracks is as dark as it comes, with its chorus, "Face it cracks, it doesn't smile" and the rather unsettling video (the final scenes from the film ‘Duel’), nicely accented by spooky wah-wahs and guitars jangly like your nerves, inevitably driving towards its bitter conclusion. Just say something comes across in a similar vein, albeit with Keeley Cheswick's backing vocals adding more warmth to the song overall. No longer I need with its stomping beat and slide guitar has a bluesy feel, and I've got the soul almost breaks into a Bo Diddley rhythm, while layered guitars change from bare bones to full blast and back, the vocals dripping with defiance.

In between there sit some wistful tunes like Alone for this one (a personal favourite) with echoes of the Verve's Appalachian Springs; or Merry go train which would not have been out of place on a Starsailor album. All in all, this is rather a reflective album, right down to the hidden track finishing the album on an acoustic note. For me though this is a good thing, perfectly fitting with the autumn evenings closing in, and well worth more than a perfunctory listen. And it will no doubt feature as the soundtrack to my life for quite a few more days to come. Keep it up lads!

-- Forum member, "This Is Music"

Wilson Minds are a new three piece alt-rock band from northwest England.
Lead by singer, guitarist and songwriter Paul Wilkes, who describes their sound as "modern bluesy dark rock n roll, with a twist of Americana." The classy rhythm section is made up by James Brogan (bass /vocals) and Carl Brightman (drums).

The band have spent a very short time launching their explosive alt rock assault on the scene, and now have just finished their debut album I Am We Are with legendary producer Chris Potter (Verve, Blur, I Am Kloot) who fell in love with Paul's demos. These are salt of the earth kinda guys with no big attitudes, just playing boss tunes, whose influences go from Neil Young and Crazy Horse through to The White Stripes and beyond. "I'm a scouser, Carl's from Winfsord, and James is from Manchester" says Paul, "so between us we represent the whole of the North West, even though we sound like a seventies American rock band! It took me a long time to find two like-minded lads and we've gelled together brilliantly".

Wilson Minds are to release their debut album I Am We Are in the fall of 2013 to their fans on a purely word of mouth basis. Paul says, "There's no clever marketing or hype built around the release, just purely great music getting out there to people who still appreciate listening to a full record.
Once the album is out then we will look at the options with various labels and investors to exploit the record reaching a wider audience in 2014."

The debut album features some guest performances from the likes of Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene, Paul Weller) and Geoff Wootten (The Gorillaz, Beady Eye) and along with Paul and the band, and the expertise, knowledge and feel of production from Chris Potter this record is surely one people all around the world will want to own one day.

Richard Ashcroft's first ever recording with his pre-Verve band Rain Garden has come to light - 22-07-2013

An ex-teacher at Winstanley College in Wigan where Richard attended, has made available on his blog what must be the first ever recording of Richard singing (in the style of Morrissey?! ) The song is called Documentary and was recorded with Richard's early band "Rain Garden", which also included Nick McCabe, when Richard was just 17.

"Richard was not in one of my A level classes (and by all accounts, including his own, he wasn’t easy to teach) but I spent time with him and his friends when they were starting out in bands, mainly to help them make videos. We had an optional class called ‘Video Production’ that I taught and they made a hilarious video charting the rise of a fictitious band through the ages. This consisted of creating mock-ups of legendary music videos: The Beatles’ Help (which we filmed in the snow) and All You Need is Love- lots of people crammed into a room sitting on the floor; songs by The Sex Pistols and The Happy Mondays also featured. Somewhere, there is a tape in someone’s attic…

I also spent time collecting recordings of students’ original music, and making a few recordings of them myself in the college studio. One of the songs I recorded was ‘Documentary’ by Richard’s band ‘Rain Garden’ a forerunner to the Verve that also included Nick McCabe." -- headguruteacher 22-07-2013

Richard Ashcroft performed at the Latitude Festival - 20-07-2013

Richard performed an acoustic set at the Latitude Festival on the BBC6 Music Stage. Although unfortunately there was no live coverage of his performance on the radio, highlights were shown via the BBC red button and also on the 6 Music website.

Richard Ashcroft has a new single scheduled for release in September 2013

Richard recently spoke to Lauren Laverne on BBC6 Music Radio about his forthcoming performance at the Latitude Festival and he divulged that a single was due to be released in September, ahead of his long awaited forthcoming album. listen to the interview here »»..."the right people dislike me, the right people like me"...

Richard Ashcroft performed an acoustic set in Dubai - 15-03-2013

Another great performance by Richard in Dubai .. according to TimeOut:

"Richard Ashcroft doesn’t do humble: ‘Legend is an overused term,’ he told the Atlantis crowd, ‘but in my case it’s totally appropriate’. After an hour-long solo set packed with Verve classics including requests from the crowd, and climaxing with ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, we found it hard to argue."

01 Lucky Man
02 Space And Time
03 History
04 On Your Own
05 Sonnet
06 The Drugs Don't Work
07 A Song For The Lovers
08 Break The Night With Colour
09 Bitter Sweet Symphony

Richard Ashcroft to support Noel Gallagher in Dubai, March 15, 2013

Richard will be supporting Noel with an acoustic set at Live At Atlantic, Dubai, on Friday 15 March.
In an interview with Rob Garratt for Time Out, 5 March - when asked whether there was any chance of a tune together, Noel replied:

"You never know, you never know. But I’m very, very interested to hear what he’s doing, because he’s made a new album, and I really liked his last. It’ll be great to see him and give him [abuse] about Man United, because he’s one of those Man United fans that doesn’t live in Manchester. The last time I saw him he was on sparkling form, so I’m looking forward to it."

Waiting for Richard Ashcroft, and solo album No.5...

With Richard now in the studio, fans are eagerly awaiting his 5th solo album, hopefully later this year. One fan - CheckTheMingo10 - has made a video chronicling Richard's solo single releases from A Song For The Lovers in 2000 to Future's Bright in 2011.

Richard Ashcroft to work with Damon Minchella

Richard will be in the studio with Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene, The Players ...) early 2013 to work on his next solo album. Damon tweeted on 27 Oct, "Richard Ashcroft studio dates in the diary. What a great start to 2013 ..."

Richard Ashcroft performed an amazing set at Hop Farm Music Festival, Kent on 01-07-2012

The sun shone for Richard Ashcroft on Sunday night as he performed an amazing set on the final day of the festival ... as reported by Chris Britcher in the Kent News »»

"... And just when it needed a real kick up backside to finish with a flourish, Richard Ashcroft emerged and single-handedly changed the mood – and apparently the weather too – of the event.

The Sunday had been interspersed by heavy downpours to send the audience scattering, but by the early evening the former Verve frontman took to the stage and suddenly the sun came out. And there it stayed for the rest of the day.

A greatest hits selection drawn from the vaults of the Verve and his solo material, delivered with a voice bristling with power, clarity, intensity and conviction, it made it impossible to dislike. From the opening Sonnet, through the Drugs Don’t Work, History, Lucky Man, Song for Lovers and rounded off with a rousing version of Bittersweet Symphony, for many he took the festival crown.

Perhaps, just perhaps, he would have made for a better headliner slot than Suede. ..."

01 Sonnet
02 Space And Time
03 History
04 On Your Own
05 A Song For The Lovers
06 New York
07 The Drugs Don't Work
08 Lucky Man
09 Break The Night With Colour
10 Bitter Sweet Symphony

Richard Ashcroft working on new solo album

In an interview on BBC6 Radio on 18 June, Richard says he has started work on his next solo album. "It's easy for me to drift into two or three years of doing nothing," he admits. "I was in the studio last week with Pete from The Verve... we put down 25 ideas in two days which was fantastic... I've gone full circle, I'm back with my guitar, really stripping it down, writing good songs."

Richard Ashcroft talks to Steve Lamacq on BBC6 Radio on 11-04-2012

Richard talked to Steve during an hour long show about The Verve's Urban Hymns - the radio show's featured 'classic album of the day', and the events surrounding it. Urban Hymns remains one of the top 20 best-selling British albums of all time.

The interview is available to listen to on the BBC6 website until 25 April »»

The show opened with This Time, went to Sonnet on the break, came back with Bitter Sweet Symphony and finished with Richard's choice of Velvet Morning. Among other things Richard recounted how Liam Gallagher had contributed with the screaming on Come On and how he'd gone absolutely ballistic, and how there's no such thing as 'cool' - he was quite happy to have his Nan turn up at his gigs because she enjoyed his music!

Richard Ashcroft performed at the Sandance Music Festival in Dubai on 14 October 2011

The whole event was broadcast live on Xfm Radio and raised over £150,000.

It was the brainchild of Liam Gallagher who headlined the gig with his new band Beady Eye.

Richard Ashcroft played Sonnet, Lucky Man and This Thing Called Life immediately after Primal Scream and before headliners Beady Eye. Paul Weller, Kelly Jones, The Coral and Graham Coxon were also on the bill for this one-off charity concert in aid of the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Appeal.

Listen here to what Richard had to say shortly before his performance:

Please donate here to help the Japanese people recover from the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck on 11 March.

You can also listen to Richard's performance on the player at the top of the menu-bar opposite.

Richard Ashcroft at Sirius XM Studios, NYC 01-04-2011

Editor-in-Chief of staythirstymedia.com Sarah L. Myers, was a guest as Kristine Stone interviewed Richard Ashcroft for the Spectrum at Sirius XM Studios in New York on 21 March (broadcast was on 1 April).

Richard Ashcroft: ".. I've got so many pieces of music and songs waiting to be heard"

"...I do believe the record companies have got something to answer for why certain artists take so long in between records. If I was a painter, I would have hundreds of finished and unfinished canvases in my studio, waiting for people to see, and it is the same with my music. I've got so many pieces of music and songs waiting to be heard. You can take the Prince approach and just put them out, but that sort of engulfs people and swamps them in your stuff... they can't cope.

"...I don't believe people listen to albums like we used to do. Albums were seen as one piece, and the whole thing would be played. Kids don't play the whole album anymore. Kids don't even play the whole track. You're lucky if your whole song is listened to before someone skips to something else. I think release dates for bands are definitely going to come back to once a year because the album is going to be the supporting tool for the tour, and they need something to hang that tour around. The tour hasn't been booked to promote a record that they are going to sell a few million copies of. They're going to make their living by playing live—because no one buys music anymore, folks. [laughs]"

31-03-2011 - Excerpt from an interview by Aaron Stern on www.interviewmagazine.com »

Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, Boston 24-03-2011

Richard Ashcroft performed a fully acoustic solo set opening with History and closing with Bitter Sweet Symphony. setlist »

Unknown to fans, the concert was also being used as a video shoot for Jim Beam's 'Live Music Series'. Jim Beam had secured around half the tickets for his clients (who didn't show up) and was the reason for the poor attendance. This didn't detract from the performance however, as one reviewer (from The Boston Phoenix website) states, "Ashcroft was certainly alone up there on the remodeled church’s towering stage, but the campfire vibe and intimacy provided by the Villa, his acoustic guitar, and a seasoned crowd of Verve supporters, made the show feel like some sort of exclusive party for those who’ve stuck with Mad Richard during a somewhat turbulent solo career." more »

For a limited time a 40 minute video of this show was broadcast on the Jim Beam website.

01 History
02 Sonnet
03 Space And Time
04 Check The Meaning
05 On A Beach
06 Lucky Man
07 So Sister (part)
08 Velvet Morning
09 Music Is Power
10 She Brings Me The Music
11 On Your Own
12 Third Eye (part)
13 The Drugs Don't Work
14 Are You Ready?
15 You On My Mind In My Sleep
16 This Thing Called Life
17 Weeping Willow

Bowery Ballroom, NYC 23-03-2011

Richard Ashcroft was backed by The United Nations of Sound, and reviews were glowing for this show at the Bowery Ballroom where nine songs were performed from their latest album release in the US - United Nations of Sound - with Good Lovin' having it's first live airing! Opening with Are You Ready? and closing with Break The Night With Colour (with an extended jam at the end), Richard also performed requests from fans and dedicated Lonely Soul to D J Shadow and David Axelrod.
setlist »review »

01 Are You Ready?
02 Born Again
03 Lucky Man
04 America
05 Music Is Power
06 Beatitudes
07 Good Lovin'
08 How Deep Is Your Man?
09 Let My Soul Rest
10 This Thing Called Life
11 Check The Meaning
12 Sonnet [Acoustic]
13 On A Beach [Acoustic]
14 Why Not Nothing? [Acoustic]
15 Lonely Soul
16 Royal Highness
17 Break The Night With Colour

Bowery Ballroom Slideshow (photos by Regina Krol & Bou)

Richard Ashcroft on his new album

...and the right time to play Bitter Sweet Symphony!

An in-depth interview by Ben Barna on www.blackbookmag.com [23-03-2011] »

Richard Ashcroft on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

North American fans got to see Richard Ashcroft & The United Nations of Sound perform Are You Ready? (supported by house band The Roots) on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on 22 March, and This Thing Called Life exclusively on latenightwithjimmyfallon.com.

Please note this is an unofficial fan-site and is not endorsed by Richard Ashcroft, Virgin, EMI or Big Life Management. Any breach of copyright is unintentional and in the sole interests of the fans. If I am informed by a copyright holder of a breach, the material in question will be removed or due acknowledgement given.